Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE) Short Interest Update

Hamilton Lane Incorporated (NASDAQ:HLNE) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,930,000 shares, an increase of 25.8% from the February 28th total of 2,330,000 shares. Currently, 7.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 533,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HLNE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Hamilton Lane from $169.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $139.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Hamilton Lane from $158.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Hamilton Lane from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $186.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.71.

Hamilton Lane Price Performance

NASDAQ:HLNE opened at $155.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.19, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.69 and a beta of 1.28. Hamilton Lane has a 12 month low of $108.34 and a 12 month high of $203.72. The business’s 50-day moving average is $153.71 and its 200 day moving average is $165.00.

Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $168.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.86 million. Hamilton Lane had a return on equity of 36.69% and a net margin of 31.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hamilton Lane will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hamilton Lane Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Hamilton Lane’s payout ratio is currently 36.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hamilton Lane

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hamilton Lane by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,901,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $577,681,000 after purchasing an additional 863,326 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Hamilton Lane by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,923,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,738,000 after buying an additional 388,019 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Hamilton Lane by 31.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,743,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,509,000 after acquiring an additional 413,015 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Hamilton Lane by 53.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,401,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,516,000 after acquiring an additional 489,557 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Hamilton Lane by 229.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,292,266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,321,000 after purchasing an additional 900,283 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.40% of the company’s stock.

About Hamilton Lane

Hamilton Lane Incorporated is a private equity firm specializing in early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, middle market, mature, mid-venture, bridge, buyout, distressed/vulture, loan, mezzanine in growth capital companies. It prefers to invest in energy, industrials, consumer discretionary, health care, real estate, information technology, utilities, and consumer services.